18 year old Omani student stabbed in US

By
Richard Thomas

May 09, 2012

Muscat -

An 18 year old Omani student, Hilal Barwani, was attacked and stabbed in Lexington, US, while on his way home on Saturday. He is currently under close observation in the intensive care unit of a hospital in that city.

Sources with knowledge of the incident told Muscat Daily that the University of Kentucky student was attacked as he returned to his dormitory after going shopping. The details of the incident are unclear but the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, indicated that Barwani had suffered multiple injuries.

“About the incident itself, no one is sure what happened. Even the boy's family is in the dark. From what we heard, the boy had done his grocery shopping and was heading home when he was stabbed repeatedly in the stomach,” said the source. “He was supposed to be back in Oman on Monday for his holidays.”

Officials at the University of Kentucky said it appeared to be an 'isolated incident', and that police were investigating the attack.

The university has been in contact with the victim's family. “Our top priority is to take care of the safety and welfare of students, domestic and international. We are a close community and we are in communication with families to do all that we can,” said Susan Carvalho, associate provost for international programs.

The Omani Embassy in Washington declined to comment on the attack, saying they were still gathering information from authorities in Kentucky.

According to the latest statistics available from the Lexington Police Department, there were over 1,000 instances of assault in the city in 2010, with nearly 600 robberies.